


Bloodied

by DarthAbby



Category: Spider-Gwen (Comics), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Canonical Character Death, Gen, Gwen is very sad and Miles can't really do much to help, Hurt No Comfort, Oneshot, Twoshot, spider-gwen spoilers, two oneshots mashed together really
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 00:46:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17415752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarthAbby/pseuds/DarthAbby
Summary: “Every Spidey has a bodycount, it seems.” she said lowly. “Comes with the territory, I suppose. Can’t be a Spidey until you’ve lost someone. But Peter -myPeter - his blood isn’t on anyone’s hands but mine.”Miles finds out just what, exactly, happened to Gwen's best friend.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I watched Spider Verse for the 3rd time today and then I bought and read p much all of the solo Spider-Gwen comics I could find and basically I'm Very Emotional and need to make everyone else Very Emotional, too

Gwen got in the habit of calling every couple of weeks. Apparently some whiz kid in her universe named Reed had managed to build a device that Miles had jokingly called “Space&FaceTime”  _ once _ and now Gwen refused to call it anything else.

He didn’t mind. She was smiling more and more as time went on. Apparently she had joined a band, the Mary Janes, led by her universe’s MJ, of course. She told her dad she was Spider-Woman to keep him from arresting her, or worse. And she spent most evenings running around after some goof who called himself the Bodega Bandit and only ever stole corndogs.

“What about you?” she asked one evening, after telling him about a quiet patrol. “Anything exciting happening over on Earth Morales?”

Miles sighed and pulled his knees up to his chest. He was perched up on his favorite rooftop - Gwen’s calling system didn’t require a network signal on his end, or even a second device. “Yesterday was my Uncle Aaron’s birthday,” he said quietly.

That had been… rough. He still struggled sometimes, with the fact that his uncle, who had been his favorite person, had tried his very best to kill Miles on several occasions. He missed Aaron something fierce, still felt guilty for causing Fisk to shoot him, but he also still had nightmares of running through the subway, the Prowler’s claws a hairsbreadth from his back.

“I’m sorry, Miles,” Gwen said gently. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No - yes - I mean -” He sighed and rested his forehead on his knees. “I know I  _ should _ , but it’s… difficult.”

“Yeah,” Gwen said heavily. “I know how you feel.”

“Yeah?” Miles said, bitterness coloring his tone. “Did your Peter try to kill you, too?”

“I thought so.”

The words were so quiet Miles almost thought he imagined them. But when he looked up, the pain on Gwen’s face was so deep and obvious that he knew he couldn’t have.

“What?” Miles asked, horrified. The Peter Parkers (and Peni Parker) he knew would  _ never _ turn on a friend. He couldn’t imagine Gwen’s Peter would be any different.

Gwen sighed and let her head thump back against the concrete behind her. Her eyes closed, but her voice was steady as she began.

“I became Spider-Woman as… a test? A way to push myself, to have some fun. I suddenly had powers, and I wanted to  _ use _ them. Stopped a few muggers. Saved a few civilians. Whatever. I wasn’t really looking for attention, just… a good time.” She sighed again, shifted her position slightly. “Peter became obsessed with Spider-Woman. She was everything he ever wanted to be - strong, fast, able to take a punch and keep going. An up-and-coming superhero, even.”

“What went wrong?”

“Everything.” Her voice cracked a little, but she kept going. “A school dance. It was supposed to be fun - it  _ was _ fun up until something happened. I don’t even know what it was. But all of a sudden, there was a giant angry lizard in the middle of the school, and it was going after my friends, and I could  _ do _ something about it.” She paused and one white-gloved hand came up to rub at her still-closed eyes. “Spider-Woman appears. And she attacks. And she doesn’t pull her punches. And it’s not until it’s too late that she realizes the Lizard  _ was _ pulling his punches, a little. That he was fighting back, but he wasn’t  _ really _ trying to kill her.”

Gwen took a shuddering breath and rubbed at her eyes again. They opened this time, but she just stared up at the sky. “And then the Lizard shrunk down into a scrawny little body, and I was holding Peter in my arms, and he said that he just wanted to be like me, like Spider-Woman - he just wanted to be  _ special _ . And I realized that I had killed my best friend.”

The silence rang in Miles’ ears. He’d risked everything to save himself, and Uncle Aaron had been killed because of it. He felt responsible… Gwen actually  _ was _ responsible for her own tragedy, though.

“Every Spidey has a bodycount, it seems.” she said lowly. “Comes with the territory, I suppose. Can’t be a Spidey until you’ve lost someone. But Peter -  _ my _ Peter - his blood isn’t on anyone’s hands but mine.”

Gwen finally tilted her head back down and looked at Miles again. He just stared back, at a loss for words.

“So, you know, don’t be too hard on yourself over your uncle.” She gave him a shaky smile. “Sorry for dumping all that on you. I know it’s… a lot.”

“I would be hugging you  _ so hard _ right now if I could,” Miles said, finding his voice again. The window was just that - a window. They could see and hear each other through it, but no touch.

She gave a watery laugh. “Thanks, Miles. It’s the thought that counts, right?” She shook her head. “When I told you that I understood… I really meant it.”

“Yeah,” he murmured, head still spinning from everything she had said. “Listen, Gwen, I -”

“I gotta go,” she said, pulling her mask down securely and without warning. “I’ll - I’ll call you… when I call you. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Gwen -”

The window vanished with a little whooshing sound and Miles was left staring out into thin air once more.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Gwen was probably internally screaming throughout the entirety of ItSV, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So [jaguarspot](https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaguarspot) was wondering about Gwen's feelings about getting to a new dimension and watching Peter Parker die again... guess this is like a prequel to the last chapter? Enjoy
> 
> [original on tumblr](http://butim-justharry.tumblr.com/post/182011356493/i-just-read-your-new-fic-which-is-awesome-and)

Spider-Man. Spider- _Man_. 

Wasn’t that just peachy?

It had taken Gwen exactly two minutes to figure out that she was somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be - a whole different universe, in fact. And some guy in red and blue spandex (honestly, he couldn’t even be a little more original? Red and blue is  _so_  overdone. Cap totally has it on lock, anyways.) is swinging around saving people. As Spider-Man.

What the  _fuck_.

The weirdest part was that the city seemed to love him. People smiled and waved when he swung by - some even cheered, shouted out “ay, Spidey! Go get ‘em!” and wished the hero luck. 

She wasn’t sure if it was misogyny or if this universe was really that different, but either way, Gwen was  _absolutely_  jealous. People knew that Spider- _Man_  was a hero. They loved him for it.

Spider-Woman’s reception back home was lukewarm at the absolute best of times.

What she  _really_  hadn’t expected was to see a damn comic book for sale in the window of her favorite shop (nice to know that there are some constants throughout the multiverse) about  _The Amazing Spider-Man!_  Or to walk in and find out that it was only the latest in a very long line.

Gwen found the first issue, flipped it open and skimmed a few pages, then dropped the comic book and bolted out of the store as fast as she could, hand pressed tightly over her mouth, unsure if it was to hold back a scream or being sick or what.

The name she had seen in bold print, right before the panel showing the spider bite, seemed to be permanently emblazoned on her eyelids.

**_Peter Parker_ **

* * *

 She wasn’t paying attention as she walked through Brooklyn. Her thoughts were racing, as were her emotions, and she almost didn’t notice that her spider sense was going off until it started buzzing so loudly it drowned out the traffic.

She stopped, looked around. Brooklyn Visions Academy, huh?

...bet they have some good computers.

* * *

So. Peter Parker  _is_  Spider-Man, it’s not just a strange coincidence in a fictional comic. Did he sell his story for rent money?

...would that  _work_? Like, for her? She files away that idea for later. When she’s back where she belongs.

Gwen Stacy in this universe is another story. Gwen Stacy in this universe died when Spider-Man (Peter Parker, her friend, her  _boyfriend_ ) couldn’t catch her in time.

So many have been lost. Ben Parker (robber with a gun. Spider-Man first appeared not long after). Captain George Stacy (the last victim of the Lizard, who was Dr. Connors). Gwen Stacy (pushed or dropped by the Green Goblin - no one knows for sure except Peter. Apparently he doesn’t like to talk about it.) More names and faces connected with Spider-Man. People he couldn’t save in time.

He’s married, to a redhead named Mary Jane. Gwen almost smiles at that. She’d always kind of figured that her Peter had a crush on the MJ back home.

Nice to know some things don’t change.

* * *

She adds herself to the system at Visions, steals a uniform from the laundry, uses the name Wanda, and keeps her head down. No one really notices another blonde white girl in the halls.

She doesn’t go out as Spider-Woman. She can’t risk running into Spider- _Man_. Not when she knows who’s under the mask. 

At least, until the news breaks. When the whole city comes to a stop to mourn the death of their favorite son. 

Gwen figures out that it’s actually worse to  _not_  be Spider-Woman, to never have had a chance to save Peter Parker, than it is to inadvertently kill him because she’s so caught up in the rush of saving the day.

* * *

The new Peter is old. Tired. Grumpy. A little fat. Dressed like a damn hobo.

He insists on being the one to stay behind - says that his universe is full of more supers than they know what to do with. Earth-616 doesn’t really  _need_  Spider-Man. It’s full to the gills of every other kind of superhero you can think of. So many that they fought an entire civil war of just all the superheroes and mutants and what have you. They’ll do just fine without a tired old webslinger.

Gwen pulls down her mask, bites her lip to muffle the sound of her sobs, but doesn’t argue. He’s right. He’s Peter Parker - he’s always right.

How many Peters will she have to watch die before the multiverse decides that her debt is paid?


End file.
